When planners were putting the finishing touches to an ambitious master-planned residential estate in the windswept plains of Sippy Downs in the early 1990s, the catchcry was “toddle to kindergarten, walk to university”.
Since then, the 300 hectares beside the university they called Chancellor Park has become home to thousands and firmly established itself as a new town complete with a major shopping centre, schools and retirement village.
Chancellor Park with Palmview, makes up the statistical district of Sippy Downs, a rapidly-developing area of 3288 hectares with 2.21 people per hectare at the 2006 census and growing.
A cattle grazing area until the 1980s, with some remnant sugar cane beyond that, its claim to fame these days is as a residential area. Bounded by the Sunshine Motorway, Kawana Way, the M1 and Mooloolah National Park, the plains south of Buderim came into their own after the opening of the Sunshine Coast University in 1996.
The population multiplied seven-fold over the next decade as families realised the value of living in a residential community well connected to beach and highway.
There is a huge diversity of housing, from entry levels homes for young families to spacious mansions around the lakes and student accommodation villages.
Summing up: The plains of Sippy Downs where cattle grazed not all that long ago, has become the Sunshine Coast’s major residential growth area based largely on its reputation as an education precinct. Chancellor Park, the master-planned residential community, is the Sunshine Coast’s newest major town.
